BIOGRAPHIES

William L. Matthaei

Chairman & CEO, Director

William (Bill) Matthaei has worked for Roman Meal Company for over thirty years. As CEO of this family-owned corporation in Tacoma, Washington, Bill is responsible for company oversight. He is also Chairman of Dakota Specialty Milling Company, which has its principal operations in Fargo, North Dakota. In the past, he served as Deputy Executive Secretary with the Pacific Salmon Commission, as well as three years with the U.S. Navy where he earned the rank of Lieutenant.

Bill's education includes a BA in Economics, an MMA in Fishery Management from the University of Washington, an MBA from the University of Denver, and study toward an MS in Cereal Chemistry and Technology at North Dakota State University.

Bill is an active member of American Bakers Association, American Association of Cereal Chemists, Association of Washington Business, Tacoma Rotary Club, and sits on the board as a director of the Tacoma Pierce County YMCA.

Favorite activities includes spending time outdoors with family and friends. He is actively involved in Pacific Northwest natural resource management issues, and maintains memberships in the Nature Conservancy and American Fisheries Society.

Gary Jensen

President

Mr. Jensen is directly responsible for all aspects of the company’s day to day operation including marketing, collaboration, innovation, quality and finance. He is also a Representative Director of Roman Meal Japan, K.K.

Prior to joining the Roman Meal Company Gary was the Senior Vice President of Marketing for the Sara Lee Bakery Group. In this role Gary was responsible for marketing all of Sara Lee’s domestic bakery products. He managed a variety of related functions including market research, brand management, new product development, promotions, marketing services and public relations on branded products.

Gary began his career at Sara Lee/Earthgrains in 1986 as a Group Marketing Manager. He has also served as V. P. Sales & Marketing of the Diversified Group, Sr. V.P. Sales Western Region, and Sr. V.P. National Accounts.

Before joining Earthgrains he worked thirteen years in various sales and marketing roles for Pepperidge Farm, Inc.

Gary earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration at the University Of Texas at Dallas.

He is an active member and elder of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and has chaired several standing committees as an officer of the church.

Gary is a member of the Allied Trades of the Baking Industry and he has been a member of the American Bakers Association Marketing Committee for many years.

Gary also serves on the advisory board of Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri and is a member of the Sigma Beta Delta B National Honor Society in Business, Management and Administration

He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Linda, for 40 years. Together they have one son, Christopher, who is an attorney practicing law in Amarillo, Texas. And they are the proud grandparents of two beautiful girls.

Sheri Wakeman

Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President

Sheri D. Wakeman is chief financial officer and senior vice president, administration of Washington-based Roman Meal Company and its subsidiary, Roman Meal Japan K.K. She was named corporate treasurer in 2007.

Wakeman is responsible for the organization’s accounting and control, business planning and analysis, internal auditing, treasury and tax operations. She also oversees human resources, administrative services, and information technology.

With broad experience at Roman Meal Company in accounting, finance, and information systems, Wakeman has held key management positions including information systems manager, budget manager, controller, and vice president of finance.

Wakeman is a member of the Association for Financial Professionals and the Society for Human Resource Management. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, which is a highly selective international honor society for business.

Steve Buckholdt

Vice President, Quality Assurance & Regulatory

Graduated from University of Washington with B.S. in Forest Sciences. Spent 28 years in flour milling industry.

During those 28 years, he acted as corporate Quality Assurance Director with responsibility for all quality functions at multiple milling facilities. His chief responsibilities included sourcing, purchasing, and maintaining all laboratory equipment, evaluating wheat quality with goal of providing optimum milling and baking attributes. Steve also acted as advocate for bakery customers to make sure that their needs were fulfilled by flour mill products.

Currently, Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs for Roman Meal Company. Main duties include 1) guiding activities of Bakery Service Technician as well as Quality Assurance Specialist at main office 2) creating and maintaining all product scoring systems 3) devising corrective action plans for product improvement 4) participating in new product development 5) chief contact with mix supplier concerning all aspects of mix formulations, costing, quality concerns, ingredient sourcing,etc. 6) participate in industry quality and regulatory forums to make sure that voice of Roman Meal Company is heard within industry and that all Roman Meal Company packaging and promotional materials are on firm legal ground.

Akiko Netto

Senior Executive Assistant and Corporate Secretary

Akiko Netto joined the Roman Meal Company in Tacoma, WA in 2007 as the International Executive Assistant for the C.E.O. and President. She manages U.S. and International trademarks and works as a Japanese-English interpreter and translator, corporate meeting planner, acting secretary for the Board of Directors, and active member of the company’s international team.

From the first day of her career, Netto has thrived in an international business environment. Prior to joining Roman Meal Company, she worked at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo as an on-site travel counselor for American Express International, Inc. Her responsibility was to make official, diplomatic travel arrangements for U.S. diplomats, attaché and delegation members. While she worked at the Embassy, she developed her planning and organizing talents to meet high-quality service standards and deepened her understanding of American culture. She moved to the United States in 2000 and worked for a Japanese trading company in Seattle as an Assistant Sales Manager, where she broadened her knowledge of import/export business and Japanese business protocol.

Netto was born in Tokyo, Japan. She earned a B.A. degree in English Literature at the Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan and completed a Global Business Management Program at the University of Washington.

Her unique bicultural working experiences and bilingual skills have been contributing to the Roman Meal Company’s understanding of the Japanese customers and market.